Tournament Information

• Tournament: PIF Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers
• Date: December 4-7, 2024
• Venue: Riyadh Golf Club
• Par/Yards: Par 71 / 7,246 yards
• Purse: US$5 Million (First place US$1 million)
• Asian Tour leg: 21st event of the 2024 season
• The International Series leg: 10^th
• Edition of tournament: Sixth (Asian Tour 2022 to 2024, DP World Tour 2019 to 2021)
• Total number of players: 120
• Format: 72-hole stroke play with a cut made after two rounds for the leading 65 pros plus ties
• Social Media Hashtags: #InternationalSeries #ThisISEverything #TimeToRise

Picture by Paul Lakatos/Asian Tour.

Field Breakdown

• Order of Merit winners: Sihwan Kim (2022), Jazz Janewattananond (2019), Shubhankar Sharma (2018), Anirban Lahiri (2015), Kiradech Aphibarnrat (2013)
• Nationalities: 28
• Top contenders: John Catlin (USA), Ben Campbell (NZL), Patrick Reed (USA), MJ Maguire (USA), Lee Chieh-po (TPE), Richard T. Lee (CAN), Peter Uihlein (USA), Anirban Lahiri (IND), David Puig (ESP), Dean Burmester (RSA), Louis Oosthuizen (RSA), Dustin Johnson (USA), Tyrrell Hatton (ENG), Cameron Smith (AUS), Sergio Garcia (ESP), Joaquin Niemann (CHI), Abraham Ancer (MEX), Talor Gooch (USA)
• Highest ranked player on OWGR: Tyrrell Hatton (ENG) #16
• Highest ranked player on 2024 Asian Tour Order of Merit: John Catlin #1
• Highest ranked player on 2024 International Series Rankings: Peter Uihlein #1
• Defending champion: Abraham Ancer (MEX)
• Number of amateurs: 2
• Number of Saudi players in the field: 5

Picture by Paul Lakatos/Asian Tour.

Tournament Notes

• American Peter Uihlein won his second International Series title last week in Qatar, having claimed the International Series England in August. With the win in Doha he overtook John Catlin on The International Series Rankings with just this week’s event remaining. The Race is wide open as the winner this week will win 1,000 points. Uihlein is in front with 1,071.10, while Catlin has 927.46.
• John Catlin, also from the United States, has been in great form this whole season with two wins and eight top 10s in 13 Asian Tour events and clinched the Asian Tour Order of Merit crown last week in Doha. Catlin has amassed US$1,420,800 in earnings on the Asian Tour so far this season and needs another US$31,903 to pass Jeev Milkha Singh’s single-season earnings record of US$1,452,702 when he won the Order of Merit in 2008.
• Chinese Taipei’s Lee Chieh-po has had seven top-10s in his last nine events, including a win at the International Series Thailand late last month, and is currently fifth in The International Series Rankings.
• Ben Campbell of New Zealand finished runner up in the Link Hong Kong Open two weeks ago and is currently third on the rankings.
• Richard T. Lee, fourth on the rankings, from Canada claimed the BNI Indonesian Masters last month for his first win since 2017 and his fourth top 10 in a row.
• American MJ Maguire won the Black Mountain Championship after defeating Catlin on the second play-off hole in October and followed that up with a great week at the International Series Thailand finishing T4 after a final round 61. He is currently ranked sixth on the Rankings.
• The 2015 Order of Merit champion Anirban Lahiri of India came very close to capturing his first LIV Golf League event at the legendary Real Club Valderrama in Andalucia, Spain in July. A missed short putt on the 18th in regulation play put Lahiri in a play-off with Sergio Garcia who came out on top in the end. Lahiri’s impressive resume boasts seven Asian Tour titles as well as a runner up at the 2022 Players Championship, a tied second at the 2017 Memorial Tournament on the PGA Tour. His best finish in a Major is a tied fifth at the 2015 PGA Championship.
• American Patrick Reed won the Link Hong Kong Open two weeks ago, and is making his fourth Asian Tour start of the season after playing the International Series Macau presented by Wynn earlier in the year finishing fourth. The 2018 Masters champion is a nine-time winner on the PGA Tour and has appeared on three Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup squads each. Reed should be considered one of the top shot-makers in the game, as was on display in Hong Kong when he fired a third round 11-under-par 59.
• David Puig of Spain won the season opening Malaysian Open and has finished inside the top 10 in three other Asian Tour events this year. In addition to the win in Malaysia he posted a T10 at the International Series Oman, lost a play-off to Catlin in the International Series Macau presented by Wynn and finished fifth in the Saudi Open presented by PIF. He has also been playing on the LIV Golf League this season as part of the Fireballs GC, and his best individual result was a T3 at the LIV Houston event. On the DP World Tour Puig has also had some success lately, finishing T3 at the Acciona Open de España presented by Madrid, T4 at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship and T12 at Estrella Damm Andalucía Masters.
• The 2010 winner of The Open Championship Louis Oosthuizen from South Africa had a good 2024 season on the LIV Golf League, with two runners-up and five other individual top 10s to rank sixth overall. The Stinger GC captain has played in one Asian Tour event earlier this year, the International Series Oman, where he finished in solo second place. He has an impressive record in golf’s Majors, where in addition to the win in The Open he has posted six runners-up, two third place finishes and two other top 10s. Represented the International Team in the Presidents Cup in 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019.
• Fellow Stinger GC and South African Dean Burmester recorded his first LIV Golf League win in Miami in April this year and posted three other top 10s finishing the year ranking ninth individually. He had his latest win playing the Vodacom Origins of Golf Final Oubaai on the Sunshine Tour two weeks ago in South Africa. In late 2023 Burmester won back-to-back events on the DP World Tour in his native country, the Joburg Open and the Investec South African Open Championship.
• Former world number one Dustin Johnson have won this tournament two times (2019 and 2021) and finished runner-up once (2020) during the years it was played on the DP World Tour. The American is a two-time Major champion having won the 2016 U.S. Open and the 2020 Masters Tournament. He also has 24 PGA Tour wins including six World Golf Championship events and six FedEx Cup playoff events. Currently captaining the 4Aces GC on LIV Golf League where he has won three individual and six team titles since the league began in 2022. In team events Johnson has appeared on five U.S Ryder Cup and four Presidents Cup squads.
• Englishman Tyrrell Hatton has won seven DP World Tour events, including one BMW PGA Championship and four Rolex Series events, and one PGA Tour event, the 2020 Arnold Palmer Invitational. He is also a three-time Ryder Cup player for the European side. In June 2024 he recorded his first individual win on the LIV Golf League while playing on Jon Rahm’s Legion XIII team, and the team also posted four wins this season. Hatton has also shown impressive form on the DP World Tour late this year, winning the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, for the third time, finishing runner up at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, sixth in the DP World Tour Championship and T10 in the acciona Open de España presented by Madrid.
• Defending champion Abraham Ancer of Mexico had a good season on LIV Golf League, finishing ninth in the individual standings after a win at LIV Hong Kong and three other top 10s. He was also part of Garcia’s winning Fireballs GC team at LIV Andalucia. His best Asian Tour result this year has been a T4 at the International Series England.
• Australian Cameron Smith won the Open Championship in 2022 and during this career-best season he also picked up the winning trophies at the Players Championship, Sentry Tournament of Champions, Fortinet Australian PGA Championship, a T3 at the Masters Tournament and a T4 at the PIF Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers. On the 2024 LIV Golf League he finished seventh individually and won three events captaining the Ripper GC squad. This year he has also posted a runner-up, a T2 and a T3 on the PGA Tour of Australasia as well as a T6 at the Masters Tournament.
• Sergio Garcia of Spain has won 36 tournaments as a professional notably the 2017 Masters and the 2008 Players Championship. In addition to his Masters win Garcia has recorded an impressive 22 other top 10s in Major championships, including two second place finishes and two T2s. He has represented Europe in the Ryder Cup 10 times, on the winning side on six occasions, and he holds the Ryder Cup record for Most Overall Matches Won with 25, Most Overall Points Won with 28.5 and Most Wins in Foursome Matches with 12. His highest ever rank on the OWGR was second, which he reached in late 2008. Captaining the Fireballs GC team on the LIV Golf League Garcia won his first individual title in July this year at LIV Andalucia, and he also finished second twice at Mayakoba and Miami and T2 at Chicago. His squad also won the team event at Andalucia.
• Chilean Joaquin Niemann was the number one ranked golfer in the World Amateur Golf Ranking for 44 weeks, from May 2017 to April 2018 when he turned pro. He has recorded two wins on the PGA Tour, the 2019 A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier and the 2022 Genesis Invitational, and he also won the 2023 ISPS Handa Australian Open on the DP World Tour. Since joining LIV Golf League captaining the all Latin American Torque GC team he has won two individual titles at this year’s Mayakoba and Jeddah events, and in 2023 his squad also posted four team wins at Orlando, D.C., Andalucia and Greenbrier.
• Talor Gooch of the U.S. was the of the LIV Golf League in 2023 after three wins in Adelaide, Singapore and Andalucia, plus a runner-up in Jeddah while playing on the Range Goats GC team. Playing for Smash GC this season he posted five top 10s and two team victories. Prior to joining LIV in 2022 Gooch recorded his lone PGA Tour win at the 2021 RSM Classic.
• In total there are 42 LIV Golf League players in the field this week.